It's HERE! It's HERE!

We got it! Our I-171H letter arrived in the mail yesterday! Of all days, I did not expect it to show up on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I was guessing the CIS offices must have been closed on Thursday & Friday so thinking it was very unlikely that the letter would show up just after a 2 day closure, since mail generally only takes a day to go from point a to point b in LA. I had a tiny it of hope on Friday, but next to none on Saturday...well, happy to say, I was wrong!

I heard George barking and knew the mailman was outside. I was in the shower and thought to myself what IF the letter comes today but then I thought nah....The next thing you know, Anil is knocking on the door to let me know that the mail had arrived and there was a letter I might want to know about...I started screaming and jumping for joy. I'm sure our neighbors must have thought I was nuts. We are just so happy to have that final piece of the puzzle and hopeful that we will join the waiting families very soon.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

New Nephew!

Should have posted this a few weeks ago...we have a new nephew! What we can't get over more than how cute Jayan is...is how GROWN UP Arianna is in this photo! She's like a little woman holding her little bro. Since we don't see our East Coast siblings as much, we are shocked at how much she has changed since May, when we saw them last. And suddenly I'm remembering my childhoood when people we didn't see often would say 'my how you've grown...why i remember when you were this big...' and i'm making a mental note not to say that to our goddaughter when we see her next, which will hopefully be SOON! We have to meet Jayan after all. Cutie!

Still no letter from CIS...even though I did speak to someone there the week before last who said we'd been approved and should receive our letter last week...well now it's this week and of course Thanksgiving week and still no letter. Oh well, I will be grateful to know that it's coming and it won't be long now til we can add to the cousin pool. We do have SO MUCH to be thankful for...maybe I'll write more about that on Turkey Day. For now, off to bed.

Hook us up, CIS!

Just putting this out there...We're on day 10 waiting for our all-important 171-H from CIS. As I think I've mentioned, this is the very last piece of paperwork (barring any unforeseen catastrophes, haha) that we need before we can get our dossier off to ET and officially be added to the coveted wait list!

Although I've read that CIS approval can take 3-4 weeks or longer, I of course can't help but excitedly check the mailbox every day, hoping upon hope that we might get lucky, like other PAPs whose blogs I've read, and get that thing early! We've got our notary standing by, a FedEx envelope ready to be stuffed and we're on pins and needles.

So hook us up, CIS! We'll be forever grateful.

Surprise!

My hubby decided to throw an impromptu SURPRISE bday dinner gathering for me at one of our favorite Tex Mex restaurants on Friday night. What an awesome guy he is! It was so much fun, certainly unexpected since it was 6 days after my birthday,and really great to see everyone that came out. It reminded me that I need to get out more. We have been so consumed with the adoption process, the chasing down of paperwork and organizing of files and trips to the post office that we had kind of forgotten how important it is to 'live a little'...I plan to use our 'waiting' period catching up with friends, celebrating life and practicing patience. Wish me luck! :)